Tata Elxsi & A2 Sign Animation, Gaming Deal

A Squared Entertainment (A2), an international children’s entertainment company, and Tata Elxsi, part of the 70 Billion USD Tata Group, India’s largest and most respected business conglomerate, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to create a joint venture today at Tata Elxsi’s headquarters in Bangalore, India.

LOS ANGELES -- A Squared Entertainment (A2), an international children’s entertainment company, and Tata Elxsi, part of the 70 Billion USD Tata Group, India’s largest and most respected business conglomerate, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to create a joint venture today at Tata Elxsi’s headquarters in Bangalore, India. Together, they will create, develop and distribute original brands, including animated entertainment and digital gaming.

“Combining A2’s creative development, brand management and multi-media distribution expertise with Tata Elxsi’s exceptional animation capabilities and technological innovation gives us a tremendous advantage in today’s competitive children’s marketplace,” said children’s entertainment veteran, Andy Heyward, Co-President, A Squared. “Not to mention the powerful stable of brands that is already in development with personalities ranging from Warren Buffett to Martha Stewart, Gisele Bundchen and Stan Lee. This is just the start.”

Tata Elxsi’s Visual Computing Lab (VCL) has been associated with award-winning animation and VFX projects for motion pictures, television programs and TV commercials. It leverages a large talent pool including Academy and National award-winning and BAFTA nominated creative personnel, and multi-site production capabilities through world-class studios in India and Los Angeles. Tata Elxsi also brings game development experience across multiple platforms.

“This venture will combine the best of creative and marketing skills from Hollywood and the animation production experience and scale of Visual Computing Labs of Tata Elxsi to create meaningful and purposeful content of which we can all be proud of,” said Madhukar Dev, CEO and Managing Director of Tata Elxsi.

About A Squared Entertainment (A2) LLCA Squared Entertainment (A2) is a full-service brand entertainment company that creates, develops, produces, programs, markets, merchandises and distributes content with a purpose, across all channels: online, offline, on-air and at retail outlets.

Headquartered in Los Angeles, A2 Entertainment was created by Co-Presidents Andy Heyward and Amy Moynihan Heyward in 2009. Having spent the last quarter of a century in the kids industry, the two created A2 Entertainment with a mission to develop meaningful entertainment in various formats and recreate the way brands are managed and brought to market in our multimedia, multi-tasking world. A2 Entertainment has produced the “Secret Millionaire's Club” with billionaire Warren Buffett and “Gisele & the Green Team” with supermodel Gisele Bündchen. Upcoming series include “Martha & Friends” a new animated series featuring a 10-year old Martha Stewart, and “Stan Lee Comics,” a whole new label of superheroes created with the legendary Stan Lee.

About Tata ElxsiTata Elxsi is a design company that blends technology, creativity and engineering to help customers transform ideas into world-class products and solutions.

A part of the $ 70 billion Tata group, Tata Elxsi addresses key sectors including communications, consumer products, media & entertainment and transportation. This is supported by a talent pool of over 3500 employees and a network of design studios, development centers and offices worldwide. Key services include embedded product design, industrial design, animation & visual effects and systems integration. Tata Elxsi is a listed company, and headquartered in Bangalore, India.

Tata Elxsi’s Visual Computing Labs (VCL) provides Animation, Visual Effects (VFX) and 3D stereoscopic content for feature films, episodic television and advertising. VCL hosts world-class facilities in Los Angeles and India and a creative team that includes Academy Award® winning and BAFTA nominated professionals. It also offers custom content development for visualization and product marketing, and is a leading developer of mobile, online and console games.

VCL was India’s first-ever nominee at the prestigious VES (Visual Effects Society) awards for its outstanding work in the 3D animated feature film “Roadside Romeo”, jointly produced by Yashraj Films and Walt Disney. Other recent awards include a Golden Lotus and a Silver Lotus at the 56th National awards for exemplary Animation and Visual Effects in feature films.